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The 8th day of Tabernacles

Technically, the feast of Tabernacles was just seven days (Leviticus 23:34). The eighth day saw the results of those seven preparatory days. Regardless of which day of the calendar week, the first day of the feast was a Sabbath (Leviticus 23:35), and the eighth day was also a Sabbath (Leviticus 23:39). These Sabbaths could fall on any day of the regular week.

The main purpose of an eighth day is to align with the law of the presentation of the firstborn, as we read in Exodus 22:29, 30,

²⁹ You shall not delay the offering from your harvest and your vintage. The firstborn of your sons you shall give to Me. ³⁰ You shall do the same with your oxen and with your sheep. It shall be with its mother seven days; on the eighth day you shall give it to Me.

This is one of the most basic laws of Sonship, and this is why the first fruits offerings had to be given to God exclusively on an eighth day. So the first fruits of the barley harvest was waved before the Lord on the first Sunday after the weekly Sabbath after Passover (Leviticus 23:11).

¹¹ He shall wave the sheaf before the Lord for you to be accepted; on the day after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it.

On this particular point, the Pharisees and Sadducees had a running dispute. The Pharisees said that this “Sabbath” was talking about the day of Passover itself, which, like the first and eighth days of Tabernacles, were called Sabbaths. The Sadducees, however, claimed that this Sabbath was the weekly Sabbath.

Which is the correct view? Well, if the Pharisees were correct, then the day after the Sabbath would fall only occasionally on the eighth day. If Passover fell on a Tuesday, for instance, then the day after that Sabbath would be a Wednesday, which could hardly be called the eighth day. The first fruits offering in this case prophetically represented Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who was to present Himself to the Father on the morning of the eighth day, as the law specifies.

Hence, I believe the Sadducees were correct in this case. Mary came to the empty tomb “while it was still dark” (John 20:1), but Jesus could not be touched until He had presented Himself as the Son of God to the Father. This event was timed by the action of the high priest who waved the barley sheaf in the temple on the morning of the eighth day.

The First Fruits of Barley

The waving of the barley did not refer specifically to His resurrection but to His presentation as the Son of God. Hence, those who dispute the precise timing of His resurrection are missing the point of the first fruits offering. Resurrection was a prerequisite for presentation, but the two events were distinct. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:20,

²⁰ But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep.

The point is that Christ was presented to the Father on the eighth day of the week. He was the first of the first fruits, pictured as barley.

The First Fruits of Wheat

Seven weeks (Sabbaths) later was Pentecost, where the disciples too were presented to the Father on the eighth day of the week. On this day they were to offer a new grain offering, this time the first fruits of the wheat harvest (Exodus 34:22). Counting inclusively from the day that the barley was waved, this was a 50-day period, beginning on a Sunday and ending on a Sunday, both being the eighth day. Leviticus 23:15 says,

¹⁵ You shall also count for yourselves from the day after the Sabbath, from the day when you brought in the sheaf of the wave offering; there shall be seven complete Sabbaths.

These “seven complete Sabbaths” were counted from Sunday to Sunday, that is, from the day after the previous weekly Sabbath until Pentecost. Note how the law refers to these Sundays as “Sabbaths.” It prophesied of a one-day change in the Sabbath. There was a shift in focus from Passover (Christ’s death) to resurrection life and Sonship the next day. This is built into the law, and so the early church leaders often speak of this change.

The Sabbath Change

The Epistle of Barnabas reads in chapter 15,

“Further, He says to them, ‘Your new moons and your Sabbaths I cannot endure.’ You perceive how He speaks: Your present Sabbaths are not acceptable to Me, but that is which I have made, when, giving rest to all things, I shall make a beginning of the eighth day, that is, a beginning of another age. Wherefore, also, we keep the eighth day with joyfulness, the day also on which Jesus rose from the dead. And when He had manifested Himself, He ascended into the heavens.”

Most scholars date this Epistle around 115 A.D., though some date it much earlier. It was written by a Jewish believer in the name of Barnabas.

Ignatius, a long-time disciple of the Apostle John, was the bishop of Antioch who wrote many letters to the churches. In his Epistle to the Trallians, he writes,

“On the day of the preparation [Friday], then, at the third hour He received the sentence from Pilate, the Father permitting that to happen; at the sixth hour [noon] He was crucified; at the ninth hour [3 pm] He gave up the ghost; and before sunset He was buried. During the Sabbath [Saturday], He continued under the earth in the tomb in which Joseph of Arimathea had laid Him. At the dawning of the Lord’s Day [Sunday] He arose from the dead, according to what was spoken by Himself… The day of the preparation, then, comprises His passion; the [weekly] Sabbath embraces the burial; the Lord’s Day contains the resurrection.”

Ignatius is one of the most important witnesses, having learned of these things as a disciple of John himself. Furthermore, Ignatius was one of the 500 people who saw Christ after His resurrection, though he was yet just a child. In fact, he was reputed to have been the child that Jesus set forth in Matthew 18:2 as an example of how one must become as a little child to enter the kingdom of heaven.

These historical records were written in the late first or early second century, long before Constantine legally proclaimed Sunday to be a holiday. The emperor did not change the Sabbath; he merely legalized the day on which the vast majority of Christians had been meeting for centuries. Some have made outrageous claims that the early church continued to keep the Saturday Sabbath, but the writings of the early church clearly show otherwise. More important, however, is that the law itself redefines the Sabbath in its instruction regarding Pentecost.

The First Fruits of the Vintage

The eighth-day principle again appears in the eighth day of Tabernacles, which prophesies of the presentation of the sons of God after their “birth” on the first day of the same feast. All three first fruits offerings (barley, wheat, and wine) had to be presented on the eighth day according to the law of Sonship.

The grapes were harvested in September and were trodden out in order to extract the new wine that was to be poured out each day during the feast of Tabernacles. Treading the grapes signifies both judgment and its ultimate purpose—to put all things under the feet of Christ. This process will not be completed until the Creation Jubilee after seven great “weeks” of 7,000 years each. Currently, we live at the end of the first work week (6,000 years from Adam), and the overcomers are poised to be presented to the Father on the eighth day of Tabernacles of some year (not 2023). These are the barley company, being identified with Christ Himself, who was presented to the Father while the high priest waved the sheaf of barley in the temple.

The wheat company will be presented at the start of the eighth “day” (millennium) after the thousand years are completed (Revelation 20:7). This too is an eighth day presentation.

Finally, after 49,000 years (seven “weeks”), the rest of creation will be set free by the grace of God in the law of Jubilee. They too will be presented to God on an eighth day, that is, at the beginning of the 50,000^th year from Adam.

Whereas the overcomers will be presented to God on the literal eighth day of Tabernacles of some future year, the church as a whole will have to wait for the start of the eighth millennium, and the rest of creation (grape company) will have to wait until after the 49^th millennium, and the start of the next eighth “day.”

The Glory of God

The presentation of the sons of God (on every level) involves a change of nature, which is accomplished by the work of the Holy Spirit. So it is not surprising to see the Holy Spirit was poured out on Pentecost, and, prior to this, Solomon’s temple was glorified with His presence on the eighth day of Tabernacles (1 Kings 8:2, 10, 11).

We are to be watchful each year to see what God reveals on each of the feast days, because these feasts prophesy of things to come. In most years we will not see the ultimate fulfillment of the feasts, but yet in every year God reveals some aspect of each feast. This is done for our learning, and in this way we are rewarded for being watchful. Each watchful person may receive his/her own unique revelation according to the need. I received mine during the night last night.

The Year of Provision was fulfilled in an unexpected way, which I will share at a later time.